Photo By Lt. Ronan Williams | SEMBAWANG, Singapore (November 29, 2023) – Commander, Task Force (CTF) 71 hosts...... read more read more
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SEMBAWANG, Singapore – Commander, Task Force (CTF) 71 hosted its semiannual allied staff talks with partner navies from around the world in Singapore the week of November 27th.
The meeting pulled together naval planning staffs from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States to coordinate combined operations throughout the Western Pacific for the coming year. This year, several European Union navies participated to discuss potential surface combatant deployments to the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
“This is really where the rubber meets the road,” said Captain Justin Harts, commander, Task Force 71. “This is where the tactical level planning occurs to facilitate the overwhelming majority of combined operations in the Indo-Pacific.”
The allied and partner navies operating in the Indo-Pacific are predominantly surface navies, which means their individual naval contributions to foreign policy efforts are built around the deployment of surface combatants such as destroyers, frigates, and patrol vessels and demonstrate commitment to regional stability. In its role as CTF 71, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15 serves as U.S. 7th Fleet’s Surface Warfare Commander and helps to coordinate these activities.
“CTF 71 understands that the Western Pacific is an incredibly dynamic environment, and we have the local knowledge and expertise to ensure we support our allies while they conduct deployments outside of their normal lifelines.” said Cmdr. James Billings, operations officer for DESRON 15. “We support these ships as we would our own and integrate them seamlessly into our surface action groups to boost our collective understanding. Our goal is to find where our national objectives overlap, and then coordinate bilateral and multilateral operations to ensure a free and open Indo Pacific.”
Each delegation brings their navy’s broad deployment goals and rough outlines for their individual ships, and through this forum, gain a better understanding of opportunities for mutual support, combined operations, exercise participation, port visit coordination, UN sanctions missions, and current events. This helps refine individual deployment schedules into an actual deployment plan.
Staff members from Commander, Logistics Western Pacific/Task Force 73 and Commander, Destroyer Squadron (COMDESRON) 7 also attended to help coordinate the logistical support necessary to sustain allied and partner operations across the Pacific. In recent years these efforts have increasingly relied upon the consolidated management of oilers from Canada, Australia, Japan, and the United States.
“This meeting is a very important planning event for the Australian Navy with respect to our foreign deployments,” said Lt. Cmdr. Tom Wall from the Royal Australian Navy. “We learn when and where other navies are going operate over the coming year and have an opportunity to decide where we can partner in support of our national interests and priorities.”
The location for this meeting series typically rotates between the partner navies. This iteration was hosted jointly by the Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy from their facilities in Singapore. Previous venues have included Halifax and Victoria in Canada, and Yokosuka, Japan. The next meeting is scheduled to take place in Australia next summer.
DESRON 15 is the Navy’s largest destroyer squadron, consisting of nine Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan. In addition to serving as immediate superior in command for these destroyers, DESRON 15 serves as Seventh Fleet’s Surface Warfare Commander providing oversight over all U.S. Navy cruiser and destroyer and U.S. Coast Guard cutter independent deployments, and as CTF-70’s Sea Combat Commander providing all traditional support to the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group.
U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
| Date Taken: | 11.29.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 12.03.2023 17:28 |
| Story ID: | 458999 |
| Location: | SEMBAWANG, SG |
| Web Views: | 748 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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